USA > Indiana > Miami County > History of Miami County, Indiana : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume I > Part 43
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A commissary department was established in the Grand Army room in the court house and a clothing supply room in the assembly apart- ment of the county superintendent's office. Mercer hall was also utilized as a food depot.
Altogether the relief committee received cash subscriptions amount- ing to nearly $60,000. Of this $27,500 came from the Red Cross society ; $5,000 from the State of Indiana ; about $20,000 from local subscriptions, and the balance from miscellaneous sources. Of course, this does not include the value of food, clothing, bedding and other miscellaneous supplies, which ran into thousands of dollars.
During the flood exaggerated reports of the loss of life were circu- lated. Eleven lives were sacrificed, the total dead being Mrs. Lou Stumm, Miss Delight Shields, Mrs. James Hossman, Roma, or "Red" Mays, Benjamin York, Peter Kellogg, Bert Smith, Adam Betts, Omer Friend, Harry F. Gintner and his daughter Anna. Mrs. Stumm, wife of Dr. Stumm, of South Peru, was rescued from a tree, where she had remained for many hours, and later was drowned on Spring street. Miss Shields was in a boat with a Miss Hesser and Frank McNalla, when the boat was capsized. Her body was found near the mouth of Little Pipe creek. Roma Mays, a Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad con- ductor, was one of the heroes of the flood. For many hours prior to his death he had been engaged in the work of rescuing people with a boat. While bearing Mrs. Hossman to a place of safety on Wednes- day the boat was capsized in twenty feet of water about fifty yards west of the South Peru school house and both were drowned. The body of Benjamin York, a man about seventy-five years of age and a veteran of the Civil war, was found upon a dresser at his home after the waters went down. The clothing on the upper part of his body was not wet and it is supposed he died of exposure. Adam Betts and Bert Smith were drowned near the Chute & Butler piano factory. The bodies of Mr. Gintner and his daughter were not found until late Saturday
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afternoon, when they were discovered in the old canal near the north end of the Wayne street bridge, about one hundred feet from their home. It is supposed they were trying to reach the bridge when they were caught by the current and drowned. Peter Kellogg and Omer Friend were drowned at the Lake Erie & Western Railroad bridge while engaged in stretching a rope for the ferry.
A volume could be written upon the conditions that prevailed in Peru during and immediately after the flood. On Wednesday about twenty members of the sanitary corps of the Indiana National Guard, under Captain H. G. Chittick, came to aid in protecting property and improving sanitary conditions. They remained until April 10th and rendered valuable service in policing the city and aiding in the work of rescue. The law and order committee was assisted materially by the action of the saloon keepers, who voluntarily closed their places of business until the worst was past. The free employment bureau, under the control of the labor committee, found work for over six hundred people during the ten days of its existence. Ernest P. Bicknell, national director of the Red Cross, Dr. De Valain, a United States health officer, Frank Tucker, of the state pure food commission, and Miss Kagel and Thompson, two Red Cross nurses of Chicago, came to assist in restoring sanitary conditions and all worked together to that end.
A Peru newspaper, published a few days after the flood, gives the following estimate of the principal losses, but it is only an estimate : Indiana Manufacturing Company, $250,000; the Hagenbeck & Wallace shows, the winter quarters of which were flooded, $150,000; Broadway merchants, $325,000; Miami county, $100,000; other factories, $100,000; Central Union Telephone Company, $65,000; Wabash Railroad, $20,000; Lake Erie & Western, $25,000; Chesapeake & Ohio, $35,000; the three interurban companies, $50,000. Probably 1,000 homes sustained damages to the amount of $500 or more each, and the total loss caused by the flood reached $2,000,000.
With a courage and fortitude rarely excelled, the people of Peru began the work of recovery immediately after the flood had passed. A few months later a special correspondent of the Indianapolis Star vis- ited the city and wrote to his paper :
"Peru displays more gameness and talks less about it than most cities one can find with about 15,000 inhabitants. She takes her good and bad medicine alike and, although the dose may be unusually bitter at times, she makes no wry faces to indicate that she prefers the good medicine to the bad.
"It was only a few months ago, during the disastrous floods of March, that the word was circulated to the outside world that Peru had been
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literally wiped off the map by the torrents that surged down the valley of the Wabash. The town was all but submerged, only a very small por- tion of the business district being above water. Other cities in Indiana were suffering from similar disasters, but it was conceded generally that, with few exceptions, the damage left in the wake of the waters of the Wabash was more extensive than it was in other cities.
"The people of Peru saw their homes wiped out in a few brief hours, for the water passed over the town with alarming swiftness. Others more fortunate watched the murky waters invade their houses, ruining, in many cases, the belongings that had been procured as a result of years of toil and thrift, and bitterest sight of all to them was to see the flood submerge the business district, bringing ruin to that section of the city of which every citizen was proud.
"The water receded, leaving in its path what seemed to be a hopeless task. Houses were overturned or washed from their foundations. Every building was covered inside and outside with a coating of mud. Fur- niture fell to pieces when it was lifted from the spot where the flood had left it. Thousands of dollars' worth of mercantile stock was ruined, and there was no money to buy the new goods after they had been procured. Industries that formed the skeleton of the city's business life were dam- aged, seemingly beyond repair. Everywhere there was ruin, and had it not been for a spirit of gameness Peru would have lost that part of her population that was free to move.
"Having read accounts of the disastrous flood in Peru and having heard from all sides of the amount of damage to property, many per- sons in other cities have cause to believe that Peru is now a disabled community. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The fact is that it is difficult to find traces of the flood, although only a few months have elapsed since water was covering the town. The same bravery that was displayed by the citizens at the crest of the flood has been evident since in their efforts to upbuild the city. The business interests of the town cooperated to renovate the ruined stocks, and the citizens cooperated in repairing homes and in cleaning their neighbors' premises. The result has been that Peru has eliminated practically all traces of the flood in the residence districts, and were it not for the condition of a few bridges that were washed away it would be difficult for the stranger to realize that the city had ever been visited by such a calamity."
After the flood had subsided the Union Traction Company rebuilt its bridge at the foot of Broadway within a reasonable time. The wagon bridge at Kelly avenue, west of the city, was rebuilt late in the summer was not completed for more than a year after the flood. This long delay or early in the autumn of 1913, but the new wagon bridge at Broadway
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was due in a great measure to litigation following injunction proceed- ings. A drainage engineer had been employed as an expert by private interests and the city to make a survey and report on the advisability of dredging, building levees and removing obstructions, with a view to preventing, or at least mitigating, destruction by future floods. Two factions quickly developed-one which wanted a new bridge "right away" and another which insisted upon waiting until the engineer had made his investigation and recommendations as to the kind of bridge, the number and location of piers, and the feasibility of widening and deepening the channel of the river. In the course of the discussion it was recalled that the Wabash was "navigable" at Peru-theoretically so at least-and that under a recent decision of the supreme court the stream was under the supervision and control of the general govern- ment. Consequently, those who wanted delay in the construction of the bridge, after being beaten in the circuit court by the "right away" ele- ment, appealed to the war department, which for a time did interpose and laid down certain restrictions as to the kind of a bridge that should be constructed. Congress was then appealed to and a bill was passed by that body authorizing the county to proceed, and the construction of the bridge was begun toward the close of the year 1913.
CHAPTER XX SOCIETIES AND FRATERNITIES
AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES AND FAIR ASSOCIATIONS-SOCIAL AND LITERARY CLUBS-MISCELLANEOUS SOCIETIES-DETECTIVE ASSOCIATION-AMBOY CIVIC AND INDUSTRIAL CLUB-MASONIC FRATERNITY-INDEPENDENT ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS-KNIGHTS OF PYTHIAS-GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC-BENEVOLENT AND PROTECTIVE ORDER OF ELKS-IM- PROVED ORDER OF RED MEN-OTHER FRATERNAL ORDERS-CATHOLIC SOCIETIES-DAUGHTERS OF THE REVOLUTION-YOUNG MEN'S CHRIS- TIAN ASSOCIATION.
One of the first societies of any character in Miami county was the Peru Lyceum, which was organized as a literary and debating society in the summer of 1837. An account of this organization, as well as of the Workingmen's Institute, also of a literary nature, may be found in the chapter on Educational Development.
In the early '50s (the exact date cannot be ascertained) the Miami County. Agricultural Society was organized under the provisions of a law enacted by the legislature of Indiana some years before. A fair ground on the farm of William Smith, a short distance east of the city of Peru, was leased by the society and fairs were held there for a number of years. The records of this old society cannot be found, though old settlers remember that the fairs were well attended, as a rule, and did a great deal of good in stimulating a spirit of friendly emulation among the farmers of the county, many of whom tried every year to make a better showing of field products and live stock than their neighbors.
After the old society went down the county was without a fair asso- ciation or agricultural society of any kind until 1871, when the Xenia Union Agricultural Society was organized with L. M. Reeves, president ; R. K. Robinson, secretary ; J. W. Eward, treasurer ; J. M. Wright, super- intendent. Soon after the organization was perfected a tract of land large enough to accommodate all classes of exhibitors was leased for a fair ground and the first fair was held in September, 1871. The interest manifested was such that the society felt justified in going to consider- able expense in the erection of buildings and the construction of a race
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track. Fairs were held annually for a number of years, when the society apparently lost interest in its work and allowed itself to sink into a state of inactivity.
On September 20, 1873, the Peru Driving Park and Fair Association was incorporated with an authorized capital stock of $22,000, divided into shares of $100 each. Among the promoters of this enterprise were William Rassner, J. T. Stevens, J. C. Kratzer and G. W. Conradt, who became the largest stockholders when the association was incorporated. The objects of this association, as set forth in the articles of incorpora- tion, were "to promote the agricultural, horticultural, mechanical and household interests of the county." After holding a number of fairs the interest waned and the association's affairs were ultimately . liquidated.
The next effort to organize a society for the purpose of conducting fairs was made at Macy in 1884. A number of the leading citizens in the northern part of the county joined in the movement and the Macy Fair Association started off with brilliant prospects. At first a small tract of ground, about two and a half miles north of the town, was pur- chased for a fair ground. This location was found to be inconvenient and the grounds were too small to accommodate the attendance. In order to provide more room for the display of products a tract of twenty acres immediately west of Macy was purchased. Here a good half- mile race track was constructed. The fencing of the grounds, the con- struction of the track and the erection of buildings threw the association into debt, the fairs held upon the new grounds did not meet with the success anticipated, and instead of clearing off the debt the association became more deeply involved. In December, 1896, the stockholders made a voluntary assignment and Joshua Coffing was appointed trustee to sell the property for the benefit of the creditors. At the time of the assignment the assets were given as $900 and the liabilities as $2,200.
The Miami County Driving Park and Agricultural Society was incor- porated on February 10, 1890. As stated in the articles of association the purposes of the society were "to establish and maintain an associa- tion for promoting agriculture and kindred pursuits; also to encourage mechanical, manufacturing and scientific enterprises, and the care, train- ing and breeding of live stock."
The incorporators were Moses Rosenthal, U. A. Ager, Fred. W. Con- radt, Link Lieurance, Jesse S. Zern, Julius Falk and Josiah Farrar. The society leased the old fair grounds and held fairs in the fall of 1890 and 1891, after which it was disbanded for some reason not made plain, leaving the field to the Macy Fair Association.
The failure of the Macy Fair Association left Miami county without
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an agricultural society until the spring of 1908. On April 3, 1908, a number of persons interested in the agricultural welfare of the county met at Converse and took the preliminary steps to organize a county fair association. Four days later the Miami County Agricultural Asso- ciation was organized in the Converse opera house, with a capital stock of $10,000. Valentine Hatfield was elected president; Fred Green, vice- ยท president; W. W. Draper, secretary; L. D. Lamm, treasurer, and the control of the association's affairs was vested in a board of fifteen direc- tors, three of whom were the three principal officers above named. The other directors chosen at that time were E. Pefferman and Frederick Ream, of Peru; Glen Graves, of Bunker Hill; F. H. Stephens and O. M. Brumfiel, of Richland township; B. F. Agness, C. C. Crandall, William Middlesmith and Morton Darby, of Jackson township; George A. Lewis, of Amboy ; J. A. Strebin, of McGrawsville ; and Jack Friermood, of Grant county. The association leased the grounds of the old Xenia society for ten years and the first fair was held on September 22 to 25, inclu- sive, in 1908. Since then the fairs have been held every year and so far every one has been a success. The location of Converse is such that a fair at that point can draw largely from the counties of Grant and Howard and hundreds of citizens of those counties are annually in attendance.
OLD SETTLERS' ASSOCIATIONS
In 1879 a number of the old settlers in the southern part of Miami county and the adjoining counties of Cass and Howard held an old settlers' meeting at the village of Miami. The interest was so great that the projectors determined to form a permanent organization and the Tri-County Old Settlers' Association was the result. Ebenezer Humrickhouse was the first president; William Lane, secretary, and Joseph P. Coulter, treasurer. The presidents of the association have been, after Mr. Humrickhouse, William Zehring, Robert W. Todd and Edward L. Wilson. In 1913 J. M. Hatfield was secretary and A. E. Zehring, treasurer. Meetings are held annually, usually in the month of August, at Miami and people come for miles to renew old acquaint- ances and talk over bygone events.
In the northern part of the county there is also an old settlers' asso- ciation that holds its annual picnic at Chili. This association has been in existence for more than a quarter of a century and numbers among its members some of the representatives of the pioneer families of Rich- land and the adjoining townships.
The annual picnic of the United Sunday schools in the northern part of Miami and the southern part of Fulton county is held at Deedsville
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on the first Saturday in August. These picnics have been held every year for nearly forty years and partake largely of the nature of old settlers' meetings.
SOCIAL AND LITERARY CLUBS
In October, 1878, the Peru Lecture Association was organized with a capital stock of $500. R. P. Effinger was the first president and G. E. Leonard the first secretary. It continued in existence until some time in 1883 and during that time furnished some twenty-five or thirty lec- tures or musical and literary entertainments. Among those who visited Peru under the auspices of the association were Mary A. Livermore, Theodore Tilton and James W. Riley. When the Emerick opera house was completed and opened in the winter of 1882-83, it proved to be too formidable a competitor for the association, which then wound up its affairs.
In the early part of 1884 a literary society was organized in the pastor's study of the Presbyterian church "for the study of the best authors," with Rev. L. P. Marshall as president. In October, 1885, it was reorganized under the name of the "Hoosier Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle," and Miss Eileen Ahern was chosen president. It continued in existence for some time, when the interest waned and the society perished. Some time in the winter of 1884-85 the Episcopal Literary Society was organized under the presidency of Rev. William Burke for the purpose of studying Shakespeare's plays. The organiza- tion met at the homes of the members for some time and was then discontinued.
The Peru Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle had its begin- ning in October, 1886, when it was organized by Bishop John H. Vin- cent, and was first known as the Vincent Reading Circle. The first officers were Edwin T. Gregg, president; Mrs. Giles W. Smith, vice- president ; Mrs. Emma Davidson, secretary ; Mrs. G. C. Miller, treasurer. The object of the club is the self-improvement of its members and its plan embraces a four years' course in English and American literature. Those who complete the course receive a diploma. At the beginning of the year 1914 the circle numbered twenty members with Miss Mary B. Waite, president; Mrs. Henry Crites, vice-president; Mrs. E. B. Wetherow, secretary; Mrs. John Spooner, treasurer.
The Peru Reading Club was organized in 1886, with R. A. Edwards as the first president. It was first intended as a club for the study of history, but literature was afterward added. The membership is limited to twenty-eight persons. The club meets at the homes of the members. Among the works that have been studied by this club
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are Guizot's History of France, Motley's Dutch Republic, Robertson's Charles V, Campbell's Puritans in England, Holland and America, Makers of English Fiction, and in the winter of 1913-14 was engaged in the study of Justin McCarthy's Four Georges and William IV. The officers for 1914 were Edgar P. Kling, president; R. A. Edwards, vice-president; Miss Kate Cox, secretary ; Mrs. M. Puterbaugh, treas- urer.
Nearly contemporary with the above the Peru Literary Club, a society composed exclusively of men, was organized and continued for a number of years. Among the members were twenty or more of Peru's leading business and professional men, including Judge James M. Brown, E. T. Gregg, W. C. Bailey, Judge J. T. Cox, E. J. Dukes, Robert J. Loveland, Charles R. Pence, Dr. Frank Fetter, W. E. Mowbray, A. L. Bodurtha, Judge Tillett, W. E. Henry and W. A. Woodring. The program usually consisted of the reading of a care- fully prepared paper upon some topic assigned at the beginning of the year, followed by a general discussion. One season the club entered the lecture field and had Professor Swing, of Chicago, deliver a lecture at the Emerick opera house.
What is now known as the Monday Night Literary Club had its beginning in February, 1892, when Mrs. W. A. Woodring, Miss Emma Porter and Miss Nellie Harris agreed to meet together one evening of each week and spend an hour or two in the study of United States history. Others soon became interested and by the early summer a club of some forty members was formed. The first formal meeting of the organization was in October, 1892, when a constitution was adopted, a programme for the year's work outlined, and the name of the Susan E. Wallace Club was adopted, in honor of the wife of General Lew Wallace. The first officers were Miss Emma Porter, president ; Mrs. J. G. Brackenridge, vice-president; Miss Jessie Cox, secretary and treasurer; Mrs. Morgan Butler, assistant secretary and treasurer. An executive committee, consisting of Mesdames F. M. Talbot, A. A. Ream, S. J. Matthews, W. A. Woodring, and Miss Emma Porter, was appointed to administer the affairs of the club. In 1903 the name was changed to its present form and in 1912 the twentieth- anniversary was celebrated in a specially prepared program, all the surviving charter members being invited to attend.
The Peru Drama League, a branch of the Drama League of America, was organized in December, 1911, by Miss Harriet Henton, who served as first president of the organization for two years. The other offi- cers for the first year were Mrs. Joseph HI. Shirk, first vice-president ; Miss Kate Cox, second vice-president ; Miss Clara Edwards, secretary ;
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Mrs. C. W. Miller, treasurer. The object of the club or league is "the study of the best in both ancient and modern drama and the encouragement of the better class of theatrical productions." Lec- turers on the drama and kindred subjects are brought to Peru through the influence of this club, one of the most successful during the season of 1913-14 having been the lecture on Ibsen by Mrs. Demarchus C. Brown, of Indianapolis. There is an active and an associate mem- . bership and meetings are held during the winter months on alternate Friday afternoons. The league is a member of the Indiana and National Federations of clubs. In 1913 the organization assisted in the movement for the opening of the Dukes Memorial Hospital and appropriated seventy-five dollars from its treasury for the purpose of furnishing a room in that institution, to be known as the Drama League Room. The officers for 1913-14 are as follows: Mrs. E. W. Shirk, president; Mrs. M. C. Nixon, first vice-president; Miss Harriet Henton, second vice-president; Mrs. John Crume, secretary ; Miss Mildred Keyes, treasurer.
In September, 1913, the Peru Mothers' Club was organized with sixteen charter members "for the study and discussion of problems of interest to mothers and housewives." The officers elected were : Mrs. J. W. Littlejohn, president; Mrs. Oscar Theobald, secretary ; Mrs. Forest Boals, treasurer; Mrs. Edward Shock, Mrs. Ernest Theo- bald and Mrs. C. Y. Andrews, executive committee.
One of the youngest clubs in Peru is the Parent-Teacher Club, which was organized at a meeting held in the high school building on January 14, 1914. Such clubs have been organized throughout the state during the winter of 1913-14 for the purpose of bringing parents in closer touch with the work of the public schools. Since the organization of the parent club branches have been formed in connection with every public school in the city. Meetings of these branches are held monthly and there is a general meeting every three months.
About the beginning of the year 1914 a movement was started for the organization of the Peru Country Club. The plan embraced one hundred stockholders and the capital stock was fixed at $15,000, two-thirds common stock and one-third preferred. Charles E. Cory, H. J. Haas, Joseph Shirk, A. P. Tudor, N. N. Antrim and M. A. Edwards were elected as board of directors and a tract of seventy acres of ground, three miles northeast of the city, on the Winona interurban line, has been bought as a site for the club house.
At various times in the past societies of a literary or social nature have been organized, flourished for a time and then passed away.
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Among these may be mentioned the Miami Club, a men's social club organized in 1890, which at one time was a prosperous organization that gave a number of pleasantly remembered entertainments; the Peru Choral Union, a musical organization under the leadership of J. W. Shields; the Peru Musical Association, with W. E. M. Brown as director, and the Philomathean Chautauqua circle, which was organized by Rev. Dr. B. F. Cavins while pastor of the First Baptist church.
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